Acta Cryst. (2005). C61, m71–m73

The cation of a paddlewheel species with an Ru25+ core and a labile equatorial acetate ligand. An acetonitrile molecule occupies an axial position.

Metal–metal bonded compounds having an Ru25+ core and a paddlewheel structure can have a variety of electronic configurations because the δ* and π* orbitals are close in energy. Configurations such as Qδ*2π*, Qδ*π*2 and Qπ*3 (Q = σ2π*4δ*2) are possible and each is expected to possess a unique Ru—Ru distance and different magnetic properties. Such properties can be incorporated into supramolecular arrays by joining diruthenium units with appropriate linkers in reactions using corner piece precursors having mixed sets of labile and non-labile ligands. For example, a precursor with two cis non-labile ligands can form squares and one such as the title molecule, which has three non-labile formamidinate ligands and a labile acetate group, can form “dimers of dimers”.

P. Angaridis, F. A. Cotton, C. A. Murillo and X.-P. Wang

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